It's the choices we make
by Sonya-Heather-DeVito
Summary: Remus has an unexpected guest with an even more unexpected request. What would he do now? This is the first part of my series 'Unconventional Family' that would be coming up very soon, with a little surprise. Female Harry/Voldemort (Tom Riddle), hinted Bellatrix/Remus. Canon Divergence.


_A/__N:__ This is a new story for you guys and would be the first part of my new series of 'Unconventional Family'. I have been working on it for a while now and it's very special to me. The series covers Female Harry/Voldemort pairing, where they are married to each other to stop the war, and how their life unfolds after it. I do have a surprise in this series, for all you guys, to make it special and not so boring. _

_This also comes out as a gift to all my readers and followers in celebration of two years of joining Fanfiction, and also being so kind and patient. Thank you all very much, I love you guys! 3_

_I do not own Harry Potter; it solely belongs to J.K. Rowling!_

_Warnings: Angst, drama._

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When he heard the doorbell ring, he wasn't expecting the Dark Lord to be standing on the front porch of his tiny house, with a hesitant yet hopeful expression on his face. He hadn't even anticipated this situation in his dreams.

Yet, there he stood—Marvolo Slytherin—the new DADA Professor at Hogwarts and his goddaughter's soon-to-be husband.

The clearing of a throat broke Remus' sudden onslaught of thoughts.

"May I come in, Mr Lupin?" Marvolo's voice was neutral, not giving away his agenda to visit him suddenly. For a minute, his mind went into a frenzy at the thought of Harriet, but he kept himself composed.

"I apologise, Lord Slytherin. Please do come in."

Remus' body was stiff as he allowed his guest to enter. The Dark Lord may have signed a peace treaty and vouched for the betterment of the Wizarding Society, but he still was a dark wizard. He still was the murderer of Lily and James, and Remus would never forget that, unlike Harriet.

He'd trusted her, thought that she would help them end a fight that had been going on for so long. He thought that she'd rather die than accepting defeat, but she'd chosen to marry Lord Slytherin as part of the peace treaty, and Remus had never felt so betrayed in his entire life. Not even the time when the news of Peter being a traitor, reached him.

Because how could she do this to him? How could she forget all the horrible things that the monster had done? How could she forget Lily, James and Sirius ending up dead just to protect her?

How could she move on easily?

So, Remus had done the only thing he could to respect his best friends' deaths—he'd broken all his connections to Harriet. It hurt him, to no end, but he wasn't able to forgive the Dark Lord as the others had done.

He showed him towards the living room, observing his every move as Marvolo took into the surroundings with a scrutinizing gaze. His heart was beating furiously, both in anger and fear. The man standing in front of him wasn't an ordinary person. Everything about him screamed danger.

Remus went still when Marvolo picked up a photo frame from the side table of the couch—it was a photo of Harriet, laughing without a care in the world, with Sirius and Remus on either side of her. It was the night of Harriet's fourth year Yule celebrations when he and Padfoot had sneaked into the castle to surprise her.

Swiftly moving forward, he took the photo frame from Marvolo's hand, surprising both him and himself. The photo was something very personal and dear to him, and he would not let this man take away those memories.

"Would you like some..." Remus tried to change the subject before he could get accused of disrespecting Lord Slytherin, the new darling Wizarding Britain.

"Let's come straight to the point, shall we, Mr Lupin?" Marvolo cut him off before he could even complete his sentence. There was arrogance in his voice and poise, something that irked Remus to no end.

"We both know that you don't want me here. So, let's just be quick about it." Marvolo said as he acquired the seat on the couch, sitting comfortably while looking at Remus directly.

His host, on the other hand, nodded grimly at the Marvolo's sudden blunt advice but remained rooted to his spot in case he needed to defend himself. His inner wolf instincts were on high alert.

"I have come here to invite you to my and Harriet's wedding."

Remus' hand fisted in rage, and his irises started glowing, the wolf inside of him was on the verge of unleashing. Yet, Marvolo's compose didn't falter even for a second, and he continued, "I also request you to walk her down the aisle and do your duty as her godfather should."

His anger deflated in a matter of seconds. He was all the more confused because his werewolf sense could not detect any lie or trickery behind the Minister's words.

"I don't understand."

"The invitation or my request?" There was a knowing smile on Marvolo's face.

"Both."

Marvolo sighed, dragging a hand down his tired face that oddly made him look more human than a monster that Remus believed him to be. Marvolo, on his part, was conflicted. He'd always ordered his followers, he'd never requested and asked anything from anyone. He was always the one in charge, so the situation was a bit new to him, but he still came here for the sake of Harriet. To be honest, he was a little worried if Mr Lupin rejected his proposal.

Marvolo had planned to surprise Harriet by inviting Remus to their wedding, and he wanted it to work so badly. He believed that it was the least he could do for her.

"When the treaty was signed, I promised to respect all her wishes," Marvolo said, standing up from the couch and moving towards the open window. There was something akin to familiarity in his voice. "She may not say it out loud, but I know she's hurting. She feels all alone. And she wishes for her godfather to be there, with her, when she needs him the most."

There was fondness in Marvolo's words when he spoke about Harriet, Remus noted. It confused him—both Marvolo's effort to come to his house to request his presence at the wedding and the sudden change towards his fated enemy.

But then, he remembered everything, the harsh words he'd spoken to her and the dejected look on Harriet's face, the way he'd reacted when he learnt about Harriet's decision to marry her parents' murderer, and his heart clenched. As soon as the thought crossed his mind, he could also see disappointment flash in Marvolo's eyes.

"I can't," Remus said in a resigned tone. "I can't do this, I'm sorry. Besides, I've never been her legal godfather. That place belonged to Sirius, and he's not here anymore."

"She loves you as much as she loved Black, and you know it." The harshness was back in Marvolo's posture, making Remus extremely aware in whose presence he was standing.

"But of course, you _wouldn't, _because of your stupid morals. You think that forgiving her would be an insult to your dead friends' honours."

"You are crossing the line, Lord Slytherin," Remus warned him. Fearful or not, he wouldn't let this man utter nonsense and get away with it.

"No, I'm drawing the line between stupidity and _your _responsibilities. Tell me one thing Mr Lupin, why do you think she's marrying me, hmm?" Marvolo's anger was bubbling in his veins. He would not let his plan go downhill because he could not see his bride upset. It was already a difficult task for her to adjust to her new life and on top of that, she wasn't leaving any stone unturned to fit in. She'd been nothing but kind to Bellatrix, forgetting all past grudges, she'd befriended Malfoy despite the rude way he'd behaved with her at school. She'd even spared Pettigrew, for reasons Marvolo could never understand. But most importantly, she was trying to be a part of Marvolo's life.

And Marvolo appreciated every effort she made.

Remus was so stunned by his sudden outburst that he remained silent, he could not process the correct answer to his question because deep down, he knew, that Harriet was not at fault.

"She did not sign the treaty to save herself from getting dragged into a bloody war, Mr Lupin. She did it for all the lives she could save from being butchered. She did it for the hundreds of children who could have been left orphaned. She did it for others, not herself."

"She has always been brave, it's in her blood," Remus' heart soared in pride, yet, there was hesitation that he feared to voice out loud.

"Then what is stopping you?"

"You killed her parents!" Remus retorted back. James and Lily's lifeless bodies, lying on the floor, still tore him apart.

"And Black killed Bellatrix's child when it wasn't even born. His spell was so dark that she was left with nothing, but a scar and hopelessness.. It was so dark that healers claimed she wouldn't ever conceive a child again. Black is solely responsible for her insanity, and now, Harriet is the one helping her overcome her fears."

It felt like a bucket of cold water had been dumped onto him. Remus hadn't known that. He only knew that for some reason Bellatrix hated Sirius the most.

"Auror Potter too, was ruthless in the battlefield, killing two of my followers and orphaning their one-day-old son."

"No, you're lying. James and Sirius would never do that. You're lying!" Remus exclaimed. He couldn't believe that his best friends had hurt someone intentionally, let alone kill them.

"I'm not lying!" Marvolo's anger knew no bounds. It seemed that Mr Lupin had been kept in the dark regarding his friends' battlefield news.

"They were innocent," Remus insisted.

"Were they?" Marvolo countered with a confident statement. "Were they truly innocent, Mr Lupin?"

"I don't know what you mean."

"You do. You witnessed it with your own eyes." Marvolo's statement confused Remus. "Did they not bully the Slytherins at Hogwarts, in the name of _pranking?_ Did they not think that all dark wizards were evil?"

Remus breathed out a heavy sigh at the allegations, because he knew whatever the Minister was saying was true. He, himself, had tried to stop James and Sirius on several occasions from harming them.

"Did they not make Severus' life a living hell?"

"It was a war, Mr Lupin. War is never meant to be peaceful. It means chaos and destruction and death. Every person who joined it very well knew what they were getting into."

A tear slipped out of Remus' eye, both in shame and tiredness. He staggered forward, sitting on the couch and trying to compose himself. His shattered dignity, in front of the Minister, was the least of his concerns at that moment.

On the other hand, Marvolo felt pity for the man sitting in front of him. Dumbledore's secrets had ruined a lot of lives indeed.

"I'm not saying what I did, or the Dark did, was right either, Mr Lupin. I do regret the way I have dealt with Harriet after hearing the Prophecy. I regret going to Godric's Hollow that Samhain night and I regret trying to kill her on multiple occasions. She wasn't at fault then and neither is she wrong now."

Remus looked at Marvolo from where he sat on the couch. He so wanted to not believe him, but he could read the sincerity and respect in the Minister's eyes when he talked about Harriet.

"Why marry her then? Why not just sign the treaty?" Remus whispered. A knowing look dawned upon Marvolo's face as if he was contemplating whether he should answer Remus or not.

Marvolo finally sighed and spoke, "When I was supposedly vanquished, Mr Lupin, I spent my years in darkness, in the void."

"The void?" Remus' eyes widened in disbelief.

"Yes, neither alive nor dead, but left in hopelessness. It was a small price for the mistakes I had committed." Marvolo replied with a saddened smile, indicating how much of a toll the darkness had taken upon him. "There was a girl with me. She didn't speak per se or helped me. She was just there, comforting me with her mere presence, and giving me some hope that it was going to be okay. She helped me in my soulless form. In return, I promised to keep her safe for the rest of her life. I'm just trying to do that."

"Harriet! But how?" Remus couldn't process what he was hearing. His goddaughter spent her years in the void.

"She is my Horcrux." There wasn't a single lie the werewolf could detect in the Minister's words. But, as he tried, it kept making all the more sense.

"You could have betrayed her."

"I could have broken that promise, but I couldn't. It was my choice, and the treaty was the perfect way to keep that promise."

"You love her." It wasn't a question. It was the truth.

Marvolo chuckled at his observations. Remus Lupin was a very intelligent man indeed, and he could see why Bellatrix had taken the slightest liking to him after hearing stories about him from Harriet.

"What I feel for Harriet is far more complex, Mr Lupin. That is not why I came here, though. My request still stands and I hope that you make the right decision."

With those parting words, Marvolo took his leave, allowing Remus to think upon what he said and also accept the mistakes they had all made.

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-_A/N: Let me know what you guys think about this one! Reads, followers, favorites and reviews are always appreciated! Good day to all! :)_


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